Apple, A Trendsetter No More

The writing has been on the wall for a while now and, as you guys have pointed out time and time again, Apple just seems content putting out "new" products with minor tweaks and calling it revolutionary, magical, and so on. This chart really says it all.

Im not even butt hurt about the headphone jack. my phone, car, external speaker and my headphones are all BT. also your friends with the iphone 7 cant steal the AUX in your car if you don't have BT there either XD. But I do feel like mac is losing their way a bit. Especially with pricing.

I think they peaked...everyone who wanted an iPhone, bought an iPhone. From now on they'll just be selling upgrades and replacements, not piling up new customers. They'll still be making money hand-over-fist, but it's not going to be continued growth.

The issue is that Apple used to have products that were genuinely sexy and unprecedented. When the iPhone 4 came out, it was a metal and glass phone with a 300ppi IPS screen in world filled with plastic phones with poor LCDs.

When the macbook air first came out, it was a sub-inch thick notebook with (for the time) amazing performance with an all-metal body that just oozed "premium" in a world filled with 'built like a hand grenade' plastic notebooks that weighed a ton.

Now Apple is just doing what everyone else is doing: making the numbers better. Now instead of introducing the world to aspects never before explored, like new form factors or market-disrupting tech; Apple is just making things thinner, more battery, more performance, etc. Which is the same thing EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING.

The issue is that Apple used to have products that were genuinely sexy and unprecedented. When the iPhone 4 came out, it was a metal and glass phone with a 300ppi IPS screen in world filled with plastic phones with poor LCDs.

When the macbook air first came out, it was a sub-inch thick notebook with (for the time) amazing performance with an all-metal body that just oozed "premium".

Now Apple is just doing what everyone else is doing: making the numbers better. Now instead of introducing the world to aspects never before explored, like new form factors or market-disrupting tech; Apple is just making things thinner, more battery, more performance, etc. Which is the same thing EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING.

It was more about perception. Their products were sexy and desirable. "in a class of their own". Even people who hated Apple (like me) couldn't help but acknowledge that these products lifted the status of their users: even if it made them look like materialistic douchebags.

It was more about perception. Their products were sexy and desirable. "in a class of their own". Even people who hated Apple (like me) couldn't help but acknowledge that these products lifted the status of their users: even if it made them look like materialistic douchebags.

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I'll give them that. I will say that the only Apple product I thought was sexy was a friend in university who had a MacBook Pro that booted Windows Vista.

I challenge any of you to come up with a sexier electronic device than a thin sheet of glass that does just about everything. Apple has boxed themselves, because at this point it isn't "what is your next sexy device", it's "What is your next feature to add to your boring device". We are such a plastic society now, we want new shit every time we get bored, so we get bored easier......a phone has replaced most peoples shelf of electronics: Pocket Cameras are gone, Pocket Video Camcorders are gone, all Portable audio players are gone, even to a certain extent low-end computers are gone since your phone is a perfectly capable substitute in most cases. But the App market appears to have returned to the "small dev team" lands, no more major players are trying to deliver console experiences to tablets or phones anymore I don't think......

If Apple could figure out a way to get the devices to be used in bright sunlight, they'd be perfect. Instead, we'll get HDR support and a 4K screen....and you'll still need to recharge twice a day if you use either feature.

Tim cook is a businessman who cares only about stock price. Steve only cared about products. Something's gotta give, and it was innovation.

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I agree. There is only 3-5 generations in a product before R&D and quality are no longer the focus and the cost cutting game begins. However, I need to point out Steve Jobs was more than a marketer. He was much more involved than most realize from concept to production. He was the company's "no" man and I am sure he made many enemies in the process of returning people to the drawing board or outright denying a new idea, design concept or feature. Without someone to call bullshit, even when the product is almost out the door, Apple is not the same company and Apple products will never be what they were.

Now Apple is just doing what everyone else is doing: making the numbers better. Now instead of introducing the world to aspects never before explored, like new form factors or market-disrupting tech; Apple is just making things thinner, more battery, more performance, etc. Which is the same thing EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING.

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The problem with touting your company as one of innovation, is that you constantly have to be innovating, and that just isn't sustainable. The second you do anything innovative that's successful, you'll have competitors. And some of those competitors will improve upon what you've done. Innovators often get forgotten because they're seldom the best, and have a lot of growing pains because, well, they have no one to learn from. So, if you want to keep being perceived as an innovator, you need to pivot into another area. But that itself isn't exactly easy. Not every upcoming trend can be profitable, and seeing trends themselves before the general public is not exactly an easy task.

Apple (or jobs...) didn't invent new products, they just saw big gaping holes in products that pushed other companies to compete.

MP3 players? They existed prior sure, but they were clunky and most not very appealing as a product.

Laptops? Big, shit screen and heavy. They just made a laptop that was able to not only be light weight but had an awesome screen. Then they came up with the air which was an awesome ultra portable type device.

Computers? Not very big, they made a splash with the pro but then left it to die.

Computer screens? Pushed that too, but that one already had a lot of competition.

Lets not forget phones. Sure you had blackberry but you didn't have an open environment for people to come in with programs. Not to mention outside of the keyboard the product largely sucked, screen sucked, size sucked, and the list goes on.

So they never came in with new products, they just made products that people actually wanted. What they are running into right now comes down to two factors: Lack of improvements in parts (mainly silicon) and the competition actually catching up and coming out with products that can meet and beat what they have. Right now they are relying on their software because they sure can't differentiate with hardware anymore. I have to admit though that I'm a big fan of that solid state home button on the iphone7.

In 2007 i went from a moto razr to the first iphone... it was pretty damn sweet. Stuck around for one more spin with the iphone 3g, I then got the hell out of that (not so little) cult.

Jobs was a great bullshitter and could sell water to a drowning man while simultaenously charming the panties off a nun. I'll give him that. More and more people are just seeing that their stuff is the same old crap. Using phrases like "we had the courage to remove this feature that everyone uses" -- nuts to that line of thinking.

Make cool shit and sell it -- that's all you really have to do. They went from pumping out stuff that people really did think was cool, to trying to TELL Me what was cool. Fuck you Apple, I decide what's cool